hoover, franklin roosevelt, which was signed by his wife, eleanor roosevelt, harry truman, and dwight eisenhower, lyndon johnson, john kennedy, richard nixon, gerald ford, jimmy carter, ronald reagan, george bush, and so on. more recently, george w. bush and barack obama. the tradition has been maintained. when a new president is elected, st. john's makes an effort to contact them and have them sign this historic book, which is a very dear item to the church. it is one of those great pieces of history that has been long associated with this church, from 1856 till the present one of the little-known fact about presidential inaugurations is that it has been the custom in modern times to have a church service, and worship service of some kind before the president takes the oath of office. people feel this is a longstanding tradition. it began with franklin roosevelt on march 4, 1933. when he wished to have a worship service take place before he took the oath of office, in the depths of the great depression. he contacted the church and he organized a special service with his former headma